The Princess's Diary
by Jupiter'Cobalt
Summary: A Princess records her experiences as humanity explores out into the new domain of space.
1. Entry One: New Year's Day

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Year: **2399.9** Day: **30/30**

My name is Aaricia Reynolds. I have brown hair and green eyes. I was born in the capitol of the New Commonwealth of the British Isles, the principle province and dominant political power of the world. I am the Princess-Heir to the throne of the Commonwealth, and my father sits as head of the world-wide Pangaea Alliance.

**The Princess's Diary**

I am 17 years old tomorrow, born on New Year's Day 2383. I was told that it was lucky; being born on New Year's Day. That good fortune would come with me wherever I go and in whatever I do, and I can certainly see the good fortune today. Tomorrow, the parliament will be dissolved, and all its members are being sent to hang in the central plaza of the castle. Father says that they are traitors, and so does Oberst. I'm not sure who said it first, but if father says so then I suppose that they must have done something terrible to receive their sentence. I asked if I could see their penalty, but father refused. I told him that he was being stubborn, and that Kemuel was allowed to go and as princess so should I, but he didn't change his mind. The execution will not be televised, so I cannot see it at all, but I have settled with being able to ask Kemuel about it when he returns. Though I still cannot conclude why father insists that I not attend the festivities. And there will be festivities. Father says that parliament has long held back the advancement of the human species with old laws and tired traditions, which they push not just on us in the islands but on the world through the islands' vote in Pangaea, and that because of this the public is enthusiastic over the end to the unfair treatment. Also, with the parliament gone, father says that he can help push the Alliance into what he calls a "new age," where humanity will sail through the stars in giant space ships and live on other worlds. It sounds ridiculously ambitious when I type it, but it is anything but far-fetched. Humanity has come close before, but we have been divided before and never has anyone been able to make the last push outward. He talked of restarting the space program, but with the resources of all the Alliance, using a fuel for the ships that is nearly inexhaustible and renewable; a radioactive material that can be manufactured but only used in a certain way. I was never told the details of the substance, but from what I hear it capable of solving an energy crisis when it was discovered, in 2359. That never interested me, and apparently never happened; however, father and his scientists talking are sure that their tests show it can be used in space with their technology.

In the conference room, they said that it, combined with the planet's natural metals capable of withstanding heat and the dangers of space, would allow for the construction of viable spacecraft, with the minerals crafting the hull and the 'new' fuel being used in a special 'Ion Engine.' Most of it I either missed or didn't understand, as it was all mostly science and math equations, which father was always much better than me at, but when they mentioned spacecraft, sailing as ships between stars, my mind took on an adventure. I nearly bust in to ask all my questions, but I knew better and returned to quarters before I was caught eavesdropping. Father came to tell me later; he could not do anything without in Pangaea without having parliament agree on it first, and while they couldn't kick father out of power, they could slow him down and sometimes stop all together his goals from ever reaching their conclusions. This caused father to try and find a way around them, but while he was looking father says that he found something that made the members of parliament traitors to both the Crown and the Alliance, and so they were to be hanged. Which they will be, and while father won't tell me what exactly they did, (top secret, he says, so not to endanger anyone else) he told me not to worry and that justice will be done. In fact, their scheduled hangings are just one hour away, along with the turn of the century. There's a metaphor in this, but it's never seemed important to dwell on imagery and in any case it's time to move on.

If you're wondering why I'm tucked away in my room on New Year's Day, it's because I needed to get away from the festivities down on the first floor, but even here, on the third, the muffled sounds of drunken visitors can be heard. I'd wish them away, but I can't go against father's wishes. He'd be very upset if I told all the politicians and officers attending as guests tonight to leave. But while I can't make them go away, they can't make me stay, so I went up to my room.

…I wish that Kemuel was here instead of at the execution. We have so much fun together, but lately he's been going on longer and longer trips around the world, and very seldom do I see him. But not all news is bad, because I heard that he's training to become an officer himself, and that some day he may be at a position rival to Sir Lexington. So I wish him well, and I don't get in the way of his training, whatever it may be.

Well, I'm going to take a break from writing and watch the fireworks go off, celebrating the New Year of 2400. My birthday was already celebrated, so now all that's left is to sit back and enjoy the show from my balcony.

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	2. Entry Two: Nostalgiac Thoughts

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Year: **2400.0** Day: **2/30**

**The Princess's Diary**

Father has announced a planet-wide celebration over the parliament's end, and earlier today addressed the Alliance over several news channels with a speech concerning the creation of colony ships. Despite what critics later said, the crowd he spoke to directly erupted into a thunderous applause, and father left to supervise the project's beginnings. I am still very excited, but it is expected to take at least two months to see any results. This seems like such a long time, and these projections are expecting much of the world's resources to go into the project. I'm not going to be going onto the ship; far too dangerous. But I'd still like to see it all happen. At least, see it all happen sooner.

My, my… Two months… What will I do until then? Kemuel still isn't back, and I don't think that he will be for a good while. For all I know, he may be in the middle of being prepped to go on the coming colony ship. I sincerely hope not. If anything were to happen to him, I don't know what I would do. But his family does always seem to want to put him in positions where their ambition may be furthered...

...I've lost track of how long we've been friends, but I know it's been almost our entire lives. When we were growing up, he would always be here, in the place that my family has lived in for decades, and I even thought he was my brother when I was very young. But he was even more than a brother to me, and he would always listen when I talked, giving a serious yet friendly sounding opinion on any of my troubles. In between his training. He was always going from room to room, being tutored and taught, never having more than two hours, on a slow day, of free time. He was always even busier than I was. Father wanted me well-educated, he said, but Kemuel was the one I think was getting most of the schooling. At least I was given some control over where I went for most of the day. The fact that we even met to become friends at all was because I refused to go on any more of the play dates that father set up for me, which always went horribly wrong. My social interaction became primarily Kemuel. He, too, didn't have many friends, and when we met in the hallways we took quite fondly to each other.

Ah... The memories...

And it is because of these memories that I hope he doesn't have to do anything dangerous. I don't think I've ever had a friend as close as him, or will ever know anyone closer. I really don't know what I'd do without him.

I suppose that I'll just have to wait and see. This looks like it will be a very boring two months. I hope that I find _someone _to do _something_ with. I almost never leave the grounds, so I don't get much face time with the public. Even if I did, I can't imagine anyone who would be very interesting. From what I've seen on TV, most people seem to act generally the same.

Oh well. The tutors are coming up now, so I guess I'll stop here.

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	3. Entry Three: Busy Days

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Year: **2400.1** Day: **28/30**

**The Princess's Diary**

It has truly been a busy two months. Father has kept me busy, myself, over the last month especially. He has had me studying all sorts of things every waking minute of my time, and I feel like I can't get a moment to myself. I _still_ have not seen Kemuel yet, since before father reformed the government. I miss him.

But enough sad news; the colony ship we're looking forward to is nearing completion. The whole world is expecting something great out of this. I'm told that the tests have shown no problems and have only raised the expectations, and that four million, _four million people_ have signed on already for the first journey. I guess they really took the simulations seriously. Even though it passed with flying colors, and in situations exceeding anything that can be reasonably expected, I would still never want to go into space in a craft that has not truly flown yet. I think I will wait until it is given a proven success rate. Of 100%. Maybe overpopulation for people is why so many want to leave Earth? Or maybe it's the sense of adventure.

The military has been getting fairly active lately, even though we're at complete peace. There hasn't been any rebellious talk, so I don't know what they could be prepping for. I've heard they plan to launch missile satellites into orbit. Why would they want to do that? The entire Earth has been in alliance for years, and no one have raised arms against any government since the last full-on war. It's worrying, and I'm not certain if father is aware of it all. He's been so focused, so centered on getting that colony ship built. He says that he wants to go down in history as the man who pushed humanity into outer space as settlers, not explorers. I guess I understand why. But what if it all comes up from under him?

...No, I need to stop worrying. It's probably just a precaution. It's a new age, after all. The official explanation will, I'm sure, at least give some hint of truth to us all through its politics. Or maybe it will actually make sense. In any case, father is intelligent and resourceful. He will lead us into space.

...Hm... I wonder where this all will put me in the future? The opportunities stretch the imagination. Will people generations from now remember me the way they will remember my father? Will I be even better? It's hard to see anything I could do as surpassing the first colony ship. I wonder.

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It looks like I forgot to close this before leaving to see my tutors today. I feel like they are choking me sometimes; I'm never going to have a chance to rest. I'm glad that no one is allowed into my rooms but me. It would be embarrassing if someone saw that I kept a diary. Even if it were someone I did not know.

Actually, I think it might be worse if it were someone I did not know.

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	4. Entry Four: Brief Chat

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Year: **2400.2** Day: **7/30**

**The Princess's Diary**

I spoke with Kemuel for the first time in a long while last night. It wasn't in-person and it was only for a few minutes, but still, it was nice to hear his voice again.

It was when father was speaking on the com-link with someone- I'm not sure who, exactly, but probably the one who was training Kemuel at the time- and they mentioned his name. I asked who he was speaking to, but he wouldn't tell me. He did, however, tell the woman (I think it was a woman; I can't be sure, though. They were using something to change the way their voice sounded. Made it sound like a constant static was being played over it) on the other line to put Kemuel on for me. I'm happy we got to talk again.

Well, at least sort of. We didn't talk about much, and as I said we didn't talk long. It was really only me asking how he'd been lately and if he'd be back soon. He said "Good," and "Not for a while." Made me a little sad. I tried asking him what he was doing out... Wherever he is. But when I did he said he wasn't allowed to tell me, and father took the receiver away saying he needed to talk to the woman on the line again. Oh well.

I haven't been typing in this as much lately. I try to, but… Whenever I sit down to talk about my day, it really just doesn't come out at me. Most days are getting to be the same. I do want to have a record about my life to look back on, though. Hopefully that feeling of wanting will outweigh the feeling of blandness.

I think that sums up today. Maybe something else interesting will happen tomorrow.

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	5. Entry Five: Colony

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Year: **2400.2** Day: **27/30**

**The Princess's Diary**

It has been done They actually did it. Yesterday they gave the news; the PA-CS _New Age_ made touchdown on Mars not one day ago, the 34 million people on board already building the domes necessary to live there for extended periods of time. The flight time was impossibly short. I can hardly believe it. At first I did not, because it had just been too soon, but they sent back video footage. Across hazy black and white, looking like the recordings from hundreds of years ago, we saw human beings walking, living, and surviving in suits on the surface of Mars. Building on it. Expanding on it. _Colonizing_. It's incredible. When I heard that there was news so soon, I expected that all those people had died.

I say 'first.' As soon as the news was heard, father had the shipyards start another vessel.

Amazing. He is actually doing hit. _We_ are actually doing it; humanity, mankind, all of us. We are leaving Earth, after being here for so many thousands of years. Grabbing at planets and giving reach to Pangaea's voice. Speaking of that voice, father took to being it and made a speech on the whole thing. It's been replaying about every hour after it stops. People will probably remember this quote: "The lives of billions are being drawn in the stars. The future of the races of Earth is not on the Earth itself, but its sister worlds and beyond. This is the first step to a glorious future, for both ourselves, our children, and theirs after them. Humanity is shaping itself beyond the confines of its home world, growing and becoming more than it ever has been. We are reaching out into the endless void of stars, and creating life- _spreading_ life, and humankind, out, into the expanse of eternity." It's a long one. But it gives me shivers down my spine from its start to its it. It is the centerpiece of the entire speech.

My father has been cheered for many things. Long before doing away with parliament the island cheered his name for making Britain the strongest vote in the Alliance, and he was made head. Then the world cheered him as he used that power to put an end to the wars and strife that had been left behind and ignored by others as inherent to humanity. Now the world is cheering him again; this time he has outdone every generation that has come before us. Under him, mankind will be guided across the entire solar system.

What will I guide mankind do to?

The footage of my father is playing again, from the start. The crowds are in a happy roar before he even starts talking. On the bottom of the screen, more news; millions more rush to the offices to volunteer for the next colony mission. This is beyond the space age.

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	6. Entry Six: Jubilant

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Year: **2400.3** Day: **13/30**

**The Princess's Diary**

Things had been moving quicker ever since the new year, but now each morning things go faster than the day before. Every announcement seems to bring a rush of excitement, and a boost to productivity, even though some people are keeping cautious. Regarding the colonies, the whole world is jubilant; but I have been told that the new satellites have all been set into orbit, and there are dozens of them, and this has received a less-welcoming reaction. The questions I asked to myself have not been answered, or even addressed, and each satellite apparently carries several missiles and a firing mechanism. There are voices in the news that are outraged, but they are few, and the entire incident is being overshadowed by the colony program's success. Which is easy to understand when the numbers are brought up. Huge gains are being brought back to Earth from private enterprise shipping, and so many people are willing to get up and leave this planet. It's amazing that they almost all apparently can. Documentaries are being made and essays written; only a fraction of a fraction of the colonists being sent off on each ship need to actually be skilled, trained astronauts, or even technologically capable beyond the basics of handling equipment. Even though the journey to Mars, using the ion engines, took such a short time, using cryogenics the many millions on board the massive ships are kept in stasis for the trip. It allows for the amounts of people being moved to be in the millions, but it sounds terrifying to me. I wasn't aware of it at first. It makes me especially glad that I won't be on any colony ship.

It's strange to think that so many people being kept on the ships are all there unconscious, before they even take off. If I were to travel through space, I'd think I would at least want to be awake for at least the first bit of the trip, to see the stars and planets and moons. Even the view of the colony ship itself would probably entertain me for a while at first. The colony ships are extraordinarily large, awe-inspiring; the yards that make them are town-sized and sprawling facilities, all connected, taking in raw materials from everywhere and processing it into parts and pieces to be used and put together, all to end on a platform/launchpad that is miles in length. Just seeing an aerial shot of it all makes you wonder how it is possibly being put to use, how such a mess of buildings and industry can be making such grand projects in such time. How can the administration even keep track? I wonder. But the truly humbling sight really is the ship itself, sitting on the pad they make it on, with all the cranes and vehicles all in a swarm around it; a fast-forward and one may see its skeleton take shape, rising so slowly from the ground. The ship is enormous and almost like a mechanical insect without any limbs. It is, compared to the rest of the man-made things, a giant of outstanding proportions, like something out of the edge of someone's imagination. My father said, "Truly something made to colonize other worlds." That he says these things are just the start of it humbles the mind. It is staggering to think that, one day, maybe the ships people build will overshadow this beast so much that they look back to it in wonder at the novelty, like a jet pilot to the Wright brothers, or any citizen of today to the past.

All of the things that men are doing now seem so far-fetched and impossible. People sometimes ask others what time they would like to go back to, if they could choose one and live in it. The typical response is usually a time with massive change taking place, or when amazing things were happening all around. People will ask that question in the future and all answers will be to our day, for we are living in a time of change and amazement. Generations from now will wish they had been us; but I wonder what they will accomplish on top of us? My mind wants to know so much. I feel like I, too, and being swept away in the excitement sometimes. But maybe it's more than just a way of distracting myself, from my studies and my own life. It is hard to think, though, that maybe one day our advancements will be out-shined. At the pace we're going, I do not doubt that I will live to see some of that.

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